Lidl’s guerrilla marketing campaign, by The Romans, won Gold in ‘Advertising Guerrilla Marketing’, Silver in ‘Advertising Hand-Painted Murals’, and Gold in ‘Advertising Use of Location’ at The Drum Awards. The campaign leveraged Lidl’s unofficial history with the Gallagher brothers to create a cheeky, Oasis-themed parka, generating massive media coverage and selling out in minutes.
Lidl tasked us with driving cultural relevance and brand fame in the UK, using earned and social to punch well above our weight.
Research proved that 55% of fans are more likely to engage with brands that sponsor their fandom. However, we didn’t have the rights. But we did have receipts.
Lidl had a two-year unofficial history with the Gallagher brothers which gave us something no other brand had: legitimacy in the eyes of fans. We just had to capitalize on it in a way that would excite them (see the infographic we attached for the full timeline).
A swing and a miss and we would be under the scrutiny of the Oasis diehards that had been waiting over 20 years for this moment, but with just the right level of cheekiness, plus an awesome product, we could live forever in their hearts and minds.
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We get it. You can’t hear 'Little by Little' without thinking Lidl by Lidl, but for us, a pun wasn’t enough. We needed the perfect culmination of all the Lidl x Oasis moments to date, and something only Lidl could do.
So, we created something that could live forever. A new fashion brand, 'Lidl by Lidl,' just in time for the reunion shows. And the first item? A parka built for live music experiences. Made from a performance polyester which is beer and waterproof, the jacket also came with handy features for those attending the shows like...
It was a cheeky wink and a nod to all things Oasis core, and quickly became the item every fan wanted.
We then unveiled the jacket on a mural that was specifically chosen to generate mass buzz and news. Yes, it was in the same location as Liam’s Stone Island mural, outside the band's beloved Manchester City home ground, the Etihad.
One of our biggest aims was to shout louder than all of our competitors, who we had an inkling would also try and hijack the Oasis wave. Data conducted via NewsWhip proved that we had more SOV than all four of our major competitors combined. In fact, we caused one of the biggest spikes in a single week of any brand in the UK.
279 publications covered the story with 1.1 billion reach. 8 top tier national broadcast slots including 'This Morning' and 'Lorraine'.
The jacket sold out in 2 minutes.
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While the jacket launch is not an official collab with the band, it’s a carefully considered piece of streetwear that nods to culture and stitches storytelling into every seam. We didn’t pay millions for an official partnership, instead, we created something Lidl customers and Oasis fans alike went mad for, leaning on the historic banter that aligned the supermarket and the band. Even Noel’s agent got in touch to ask for jackets for the whole band…
And although we had a laugh with the campaign, the final product was no joke, it was a premium piece of clothing at an affordable price, which is why 195,000 fans tried to get their hands on one, with all proceeds going to charity. And the credibility was shown through the publications that covered it. A supermarket in RollingStone - who would have thought it?
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The Romans
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